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Policy Cards (Civ6)
Policy Cards are a new gameplay mechanic introduced in Civilization VI, and are part of the new government system of the game. They represent the new incarnation of social policies, the actual effects of your political agenda, and in many cases are referred to as "Policies," both in order to shorten the name, and to keep the tradition of previous games. Mechanics As you progress through the tree, you will gain Policy Cards, which can then be placed into the relevant Policy Card slots in your . Different Governments have different policy slot configurations, meaning that you may only activate so many cards of each type at any given time. Policies have concrete effects for gameplay, such as bonus stats ( , , etc.), or accelerated rate for something. Compared to the social policies of Civilization V, they are more focused and with limited effects; however, they may be shuffled almost at will instead of staying locked through the game. There are no right or wrong policy choices in the game - although one policy may be better than another in a given circumstance, policy choices are entirely up to personal preference. Try them all to find your favorite ones. There are four types of Policy Cards (five in Rise and Fall), which are slotted into corresponding slots in one's Government. Once slotted, Policies will activate their described effects and enhance your game accordingly. The policy card types are as follows: * Military (Red), oriented towards combat, unit production and maintenance, and strategic resource management. * Economic (Yellow), oriented towards , yield boosts, Housing and Amenities. * Diplomatic (Green), oriented towards diplomacy and city-state relations. * Wildcard (Purple), oriented towards Great People points and Legacy bonuses. In Rise and Fall, Dark Age (Black) cards can also be placed in these slots - see below for more information about these. While a Wildcard Policy Card may only be housed in a Wildcard slot, a Wildcard slot can also house any other type of Policy Card ( Military, Economic, or Diplomatic). This gives Wildcard slots great flexibility, as they are capable of housing a card of any type. Note that Policy Cards have effects that are often directed at particular eras; they become obsolete once you advance further. The first (and maybe most shocking example) is the Revelation Policy, which becomes obsolete the moment the last Great Prophet in the game is attracted, which usually happens by the Medieval Era. With continued development of Civics, you will eventually unlock other cards with similar effects, directed at more advanced eras. When this happens, the older cards are removed from your deck. Pay attention to the description of each Civic - there you will find what (if any) older Policy Cards will be rendered obsolete. Sometimes this might actually become a problem! Let's say, for example, that you're building a Medieval Era wonder and using the bonus from Gothic Architecture, but you are developing the Civil Engineering civic. When you finish its development, Gothic Architecture is rendered obsolete and replaced with the newer Skyscrapers card; but this card does not provide bonus towards building medieval wonders. Thus, you will lose the boost and will have to take extra time to finish your wonder, risking someone else beating you to it. How to Gain More Policy Card Slots How many slots for Policy Cards you have available depends directly on your Government type. Because of the many bonuses provided by Policy Cards, it is recommended to try to obtain as many Policy Card slots as possible. One can increase your amount of Policy Card Slots by doing any of the following: * Changing to a more advanced - When you start the game, you are in a with only 2 slots, but as time goes on you can adopt new forms of government with more slots (2, 4, 6, 8). In Gathering Storm, you can unlock a Tier 4 government with 10 card slots. * Playing as Greece - "Plato's Republic" grants 1 additional Wildcard Policy Slot. * Playing as - "Holy Roman Emperor" Leader Ability grants 1 additional Military Policy Slot. * Building - Grants 1 Military Policy Slot. * Building - Grants 1 Economic Policy Slot. * Building - Grants 1 Wildcard Policy Slot. * Building - Grants 1 Diplomatic Policy Slot. * Using 's Great Person ability (in vanilla Civilization VI) - Grants 1 Economic Policy Slot. * Invoking a World Ideology Government Type in the World Congress (Gathering Storm) - Grants a Wildcard Policy Slot. Completing as many of the above conditions as possible will net a maximum of 14 Policy Card Slots (vanilla version only), as it is impossible to play as both Greece and Germany at the same time. This number is changed to 13 in Rise and Fall and up to 15 in Gathering Storm. Policy changes in Rise and Fall The first expansion to Civilization VI brings small but important changes to many Policies. Most of them have been tweaked so as to include the new Loyalty mechanics. New Policies have been added for the same reason, as well as to benefit the new and enhanced Alliances system. There is one notable change, however: Policies which previously provided a 100% increase in yields from district-specific buildings (e.g. from Libraries, Universities, and Research Labs) have now been conditioned to only provide it in cities with 10+ Population, or districts with +3 or better adjacency bonuses. This makes it much more difficult to actually get the bonus, and in practice limits its usefulness in many cities, which was probably a balancing decision. Finally, Legacy bonuses from Governments have been removed and are now represented as Wildcard Policies, which can be adopted after you switch away from a given government. Policy changes in ''Gathering Storm'' The latest expansion brings many new Policies. Many of them are related to the new way Strategic resources are handled; the rest are the late-game Policies from the Future Era which bring powerful effects capable of tipping victory progression not only of your own civilization, but of your rivals' as well! Also, a very important change was made regarding Era-specific Policies: namely, they now work for all previous Eras, as well as the new ones (previously they would only work for the 2 latest Eras, and not for the older ones). This makes them much more universal and gives advanced civilizations a logical advantage across the board, instead of just for their current Era-specific units and wonders. List of Policy Cards These are separated by type, and ordered by the civic timeline you will gain them. Dark Age Policy Cards Dark Age Policy Cards are a new type of policy introduced in Rise and Fall. As their name implies, they can only be adopted by civilizations that are experiencing a Dark Age. They must be placed in Wildcard slots, and provide potent benefits...at a price. Different Dark Age Policy Cards become available as the game progresses, as seen in the table below. Related achievements Category:Game element (Civ6)